Structural relaxation time pressure combinations

The general experimental fact of constant frequency dispersion (or time dependence of the correlation function) of the a-relaxation at constant Ta for different combinations of T and P has an immense impact on glass transition. Although the data were mostly obtained by dielectric relaxation, the same effect was found in some glass-formers by photon correlation spectroscopy. The primary concern of most theories, including those mentioned in the NY Times article, is to explain the temperature and pressure dependences of the structural relaxation time Tq.. In these theories, the dispersion of the structural relaxation is either not addressed, or else considered separately with additional input not involved in arriving at r . Consequently, the frequency dispersion is unrelated to the relaxation time of the structural a-relaxation in these theories, and they are unlikely to be consistent with the T, / -superpositioning property by happenstance. 

Although glass transition is conventionally defined by the thermodynamics and kinetic properties of the structural a-relaxation, a fundamental role is played by its precursor, the Johari-Goldstein (JG) secondary relaxation. The JG relaxation time, xjg, like the dispersion of the a-relaxation, is invariant to changes in the temperature and pressure combinations while keeping xa constant in the equilibrium liquid state of a glass-former. For any fixed xa, the ratio, T/G/Ta, is exclusively determined by the dispersion of the a-relaxation or by the fractional exponent, 1 — n, of the Kohlrausch function that fits the dispersion. There is remarkable similarity in properties between the JG relaxation time and the a-relaxation time. Conventional theories and models of glass transition do not account for these nontrivial connections between the JG relaxation and the a-relaxation. For completeness, these theories and models have to be extended to address the JG relaxation and its remarkable properties. 

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